2014: The Coolest U.S. Summer on Record

So far the Summer of 2014 is shaping up to be the coldest summer on record in the U.S.A., with temperatures rarely breaking the 90-degree mark.

The latest data averaged from all temperature stations of the Historical Climatology Network shows that this summer has thus far broken the record as the coldest.

Another cold summer with a low frequency of days with recorded temperatures above 90 degrees came back in 1992, the year the atmosphere was coated with ash from the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. However, going back to the 1880s, only one other summer in the early 1900s rivaled the 1992 and 2014 temperature readings.

According to the data, the average number of 90-degree days has been steadily declining since the 1880s, as well.

This HCN summer record comes on the heels of record cold temperatures in July that haven’t been seen since record keeping began in the 1880s. A strong cold front beginning on July 14 swept across the country, bringing below-average temperatures for much of the central and eastern U.S.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.